


Plans Gone Awry

by Jem (allonsymous)



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Cold, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Romance, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 03:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9157981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allonsymous/pseuds/Jem
Summary: The Doctor has a big Christmas surprise for Rose, but things don't go off without a hitch.





	

Rose opened the car door, the yellow interior light coming to life and spilling out onto the gravel driveway of her two story cottage home outside London proper. A chill December breeze sighed across her face and down the neckline of her coat. The weather report had said it was going to drop to freezing by five, and that was hours ago. Not for the first time that day, she kicked herself for neglecting to wear a scarf. She shivered, reaching into the back seat and tossing her handbag into one of the two department store bags that were resting on the bench. She gathered them up and hoisted them forward before getting out of the car. 

Christmas shopping had been a nightmare, but she’d finally found the handful of last minute items that she needed for Tony, which was incredibly lucky, because it seemed like everywhere she went, the selection had been totally obliterated. The toys were all the wrong character, or all the wrong color, or things he already had, or things that wouldn’t interest him. _That’s what I get for waiting until the twenty-third to finish my shopping,_ she thought to herself as she slammed the car door behind her.

She was beginning to get a tired headache, and she knew she was disastrously late for her engagement with the Doctor. She’d promised to be home by six, but it was half eight, and though she’d tried to call him repeatedly, he hadn’t been answering his phone. A couple of voicemails and a text message later, she resumed her shopping and tried to get it done as quickly as she could. She just hoped he wasn’t too disappointed, since he did say he was going to be making a nice dinner for them. Work had been mad lately—for both of them—a fact that resulted in each of them being away from home, and away from each other, entirely too much. They wanted a night to themselves, but agreed that they just wanted to stay home and relax. When Rose told the Doctor she needed to do a little last minute Christmas shopping, he wished her good luck and said he’d have things put together for them when she got back.

As she approached the front steps, a loud, excited voice boomed down at her.

“You’re back!”

Rose gasped in surprise, dropping the bags and nearly leaping right out of her skin. She looked up, but all she could see was the silhouette of the gable roof line. No wait… what’s that lumpy shape…?

“Rose! Up here, on the roof!” It was the Doctor.

“For god’s sake, Doctor, what are you doing up there?”

“Long story,” he replied. “C-can I give you the s-short version?” For the first time, she noticed his voice sounded tight. Constricted somehow.

“Are you all right.”

“Y-yeah…” She heard him suck in a trembling breath. “Listen, m-my ladder f-fell down. I’m stuck up here.”

“Oh my god! Where is it?”

“Around back.”

Rose jogged around the side of the house and pulled the hanging wire that was threaded through the gate. It tugged at the lever of the clasp latch, unlocking it from the outside. She pushed through and hurried down the narrow side garden, and upon coming around the corner, she saw the extension ladder on the ground. Hastily, she lifted it back into position and climbed up, carefully making her way across the frost-kissed shingles. She could see the lumpy shape of the Doctor in the darkness, and as she approached, he stood up, still hunched over slightly. He was shivering, and she could see his breath as he exhaled forcefully.

“Doctor, how long have you been up here?” she asked as she approached, putting a hand on his arm. “Oh my god, you’re like ice! Why haven’t you got a coat?”

“I wasn’t c-cold then. I’ve b-been up here s-since—”

“Nevermind, let’s just get you inside, you can tell me about it after a hot shower.”

He nodded, following her stiffly across the roof, straddling the ridgepole to avoid slipping on the icy shingles. They made their way down the ladder and into the house through the back door, which the Doctor had left unlocked. The house was pitch black, an indication that the Doctor had been on the roof since before it got dark. That must have been at least three hours ago. She flicked on a few lights and took a proper look at him. He was wearing nothing but a long sleeved tee, jeans, and trainers. No hat, no coat… His ears and cheeks were vivid red, but his lips were blue, and he was shivering uncontrollably. She marched him upstairs to their shower and turned on the water as he tried unbuttoning his trousers, but he was shaking too much, and his fingers were stiff jointed and thick with numbness from the cold. Rose carefully helped him undress and he climbed into the shower, still shivering. As soon as the water hit him, he gasped and turned the temperature down, complaining that the warmth burned his skin.

At that admission, Rose quickly stripped down and joined him in the shower, wrapping her arms around him. It was like hugging a snowman, and it took every effort for her not to recoil from his freezing cold skin. She slowly eased the temperature of the water back up, and eventually he stopped shivering, allowing the hot water to trickle down his body as Rose rubbed his arms to aid the warming process with friction.

After showering, they both dressed in warm flannel pajamas and went back downstairs. Rose tossed the Doctor a thick fleece blanket and went into the kitchen to prepare some tea. He followed her, draping the blanket over his head and wrapping up tight in it, looking rather druidian as he sat at the kitchen table with slumping posture and sad puppy-dog eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Rose. That was daft, going up there in these temperatures without a coat. The idea that the ladder might fall down just never even occurred to me.”

Rose put the kettle on and turned to face the Doctor. “Nevermind that, I’m just glad you’re okay. What on earth were you doing up there?”

“I was… er… putting some lights up.” He averted his gaze.

“What?” Her brow crimped in perplexity. “Doctor, it’s December twenty-third. Little late to be putting up Christmas lights, isn’t it?”

He tossed his head. “Welll…”

She sighed and joined him at the table, lowering herself into the seat beside him and taking his hand. He still felt cold to the touch, but not icy. She slowly shook her head, unable to suppress an exasperated grin. “Only my Doctor…”

“It could happen to anyone,” he replied defensively.

“No, I mean putting up lights on December twenty-third.”

“Oh… well, I’d had this idea… silly, really…”

“I’m sure it was,” she laughed. “Oh!” She jumped up. “Tony’s presents! I left them in the driveway!”

The Doctor was taken aback slightly, his eyes following her out of the room. Once she was gone, he stood with a stiff groan, shuffling over to the stove. He basked in the heat of the flame for half a moment before opening the top-left cabinet. It was where they kept mugs and glasses. He reached for their favorite mugs and set them on the counter for their tea before reaching in and shifting the mugs around to free up a mug they never used, because it had a large chip in it. He wasn’t sure why they kept it around, honestly, but it was the perfect hiding place for small things, because he knew it was the last place Rose would look. Pulling it out of the cupboard with a couple of faint clinks against the other cups, he reached inside and pulled out a small black remote, which he promptly punched a code into. He pulled one more item out of the cup and walked out of the kitchen, still wrapped in his snuggle blanket.

A moment later, he was stepping out the front door. Rose stood there in the gravel driveway, shopping bags at her feet, staring up at the gable, mouth hanging open. He pulled the blanket tighter against the chill and went down the steps to join her, looking up. There was his handiwork. He’d been so close.

Rose’s mouth moved, but no words came out. A tear fell down her cheek. Up on the gable, spelled out in multicolored Christmas lights, it said,

Rose Tyler, will you marr

The Doctor reached over and wiped the tear from her cheek with his thumb before wrapping her up in his arms, blanket surrounding them both. “The rest of it was going to say y me… the letter Y, I mean… not the word. Why me—that’d be weird…” He swallowed nervously. “It was supposed to be a surprise. But I ran out of lights, and when I was about to go get another bundle, I… sort of… accidentally kicked the ladder down…” He scratched at the back of his neck sheepishly.

Rose finally pulled her eyes away and turned in the Doctors arms. He was chewing the inside of his bottom lip as he nervously held up his hand. Pinched between his fingers was a white gold ring set with a pretty little TARDIS-blue sapphire.

“So… what do you say, Rose Tyler… will you marr?”

She burst out laughing, fresh tears spilling down. “Yes! Yes, Doctor, I will!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly, tongue tickling his bottom lip, sending waves of pleasure through him. He returned the favor through an irrepressible smile of pure joy. She said yes!

The tea kettle began to whistle, but nobody seemed to hear it.


End file.
